A densely populated portion of Mississippi Senate District 13 may be on the move to a new home in District 22 soon.
That is if United States District Judge Carlton Reeves approves a plan put forth by the Legislature in late March that will redraw portions of 13 and 22.
Reeves ordered lawmakers in a March ruling to redraw District 22 by April 3, because he ruled that the district was gerrymandered and violated the Voting Right Act.
The Legislature put forth a plan that would take a large portion of Indianola and Inverness’ voting base from District 13 and transfer it to District 22.
If Reeves does not approve of the Legislature’s plan, he could redraw the district himself.
Redistricting will come with its own set of issues, but added to the potential confusion is the fact that this order was handed down nearly 30 days after the March 1 qualifying deadline for the 2019 election cycle.
There’s no argument that something was inevitably going to happen with District 22, but the timing could not have been worse for some who had already qualified for the District 13 race in Sunflower County.
One candidate is presumably out altogether, and another’s voting base could be placed into District 22 prior to the August primary.
The end result for Sunflower County in the long term is that it will gain another senator in the Legislature, which is good news for our citizens.
Hopefully, the ultimate solution will be practical and fair to all concerned.
